Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Ede questions

1. Ede says that authorship as in individual activity is central to Western cultural tradition. What are some examples (your own) that legitimize this statement?
2. What are some of the challenges of collaborative authorship?
3. Could one argue that most texts now all over the world have a definite author as a result of the Western world's influence?

Monday, October 27, 2008

10 things

1. 14 ciggarette buds in a 3 by 3 foot side-walk square outside of th Obama headquarters in Chicago (233 N. Michigan)
2. 19 empty water bottles on the side of the 290 expressway within a half of a mile distance.
3. 4 or 5 wads of chewed pieces of gum in the seat in front of my in a lecture.
4. 3 missing ceiling panels missing in another lecture.
5. An orange "DO NOT TOUCH THERMOSTAT" sign on the wall.
6. A small crack in the kitchen counter closest to the window.
7. A missing tile in a stall in the bathroom floor of undergrad
8. Missing pannel (half of it) from the blinds in the "living room".

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Response to Hampe Question

1) Hampe says 'editing is at the heart of documentary.' Since editing is obvious done post-shooting, how does this separation take away from a actual depiction of reality? Or could this editing
enhance it?

Editing can take the actual footage and organize it in a way to get the original message across. There are no actual scripted lines or detailed descriptions of what those who are in the film are supposed to be doing at a certain time (at least there isn't supposed to be...) so editing is the only way you can turn reality into becoming coherent... this can take away from what actually happened, and it can also manipulate what actually happened into something that's not. But at the same time, it can just make more clear of what was going on at the time the footage was being filmed in the eyes of those filming/producing it.

Hampe Questions part 2

1. Do you think the opening scene of a movie with using a metaphor is or is one of the most powerful ways to set the tone for the rest of the movie/documentary/program?

2. Hampe writes "Audiences have the perverse habit of assuming that
the way they think you are communicating is the way
that you intended to communicate. As far as they are concerned, the
message they get is the only ~essage there is. And you have no
opportunity to defend yourself-to revise, clarify, or explain what you
actually meant." Do you think we usually get the message of any piece? Can the point of a book, article, movie, documentary, interview ever be really understood without knowing and talking to the creator of the piece?

3. Hampe writes you're supposed to edit your footage to communiate your message "honestly, directly, and forcefully - what you know about the event." Do you think its easier to manipulate your audience with editing or is it easier to be honest with what happened (even if it goes against what you wanted your original message to be)?

Monday, October 20, 2008


This is a picture or computer animated drawing rather than partly inspired me to do my audio project. It seems that it is almost considered common knowledge that Muslims were to blame for the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and that is just so far from the truth. Yes, the terrorists claimed to be "Muslim" and said they were acting out in the name of Islam, but if anyone were to take a few moments to research the religion that is Islam they would know that anything but "Islamism" was to blame for this tragic day. In my audio project I wanted to get across that there needs to be more tolerance, sympathy, and less ignorance when it comes to humanity and our suffering as a whole. This picture depicts the ignorance I was talking about.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

One Love

Audio Project

I did a few test runs with my recording and different songs. Because my project has to do with September 11 and its various tragedies, it was really difficult to decide on which type of song to use. I considered using a few songs to represent the different religions, but three songs mixed together didn’t seem to fit the needed mood and tone of the recording – its too serious of a matter. I chose to upload the version with U2’s “One” in the background. I ultimately chose this version because I feel that the words to this song helped the most in getting the overall message out – that us, as humans, are all “one”.

My audio project is a combination of victim stories and one survivor from 9/11. The individual cases I chose, to me, helped show the diversity of the different groups yet the similarity of their pain. Adam, who is a Christian survivor of the World Trade Center attack was similar to the rest of the people I mention in that he had a family or significant other, he felt extreme emotion during and after the attack, and he/his family will be affected by 9/11 for the rest of his life. Adam and the comments he made are extremely interesting to me…the pain and suffering he will forever feel is definitely real and understandable, but what I found so fascinating in particular was his “message” to the terrorists. After such a tragic event that he experiences first hand, Adam relates 9/11 to democracy and freedom rather than concentrating on the pain and suffering of the nation as a whole. He calls 9/11 “the ultimate failure of terrorism against The United States”, stating that the first plane crash he experienced was when “democracy won”. To me this sounds almost ignorant, like a competition almost, America or democracy vs. the rest of the world. Ignorance however was one of the points I wanted to address… ignorance not just pertaining to 9/11 and what happened then and for the future, but ignorance to the rest of us around us who suffered too.

I’ve gotten various emails in the past 7 years about stupid conspiracies that have to do with no Jewish people going to work on 9/11, somehow everyone of the Jewish faith planned behind everyone else’s back to not be part of such a horrible day. I chose four Jewish people who were either married or getting married and who left families behind. This was a direct response to those who forget or don’t think that Jews too were part of 9/11 – their family’s pain and suffering, just like Adam’s and his family’s, will live on forever.

Muslims living in America no doubt had to deal with a drastic change in the way their fellow country-men and women looked at and treated them after 9/11. In fact, they might possibly be the easiest group to forget in about when it comes to suffering in regards to 9/11. The ignorance surrounding 9/11 and Muslims in general has left Muslims who suffered first hand this day to feel pain and loss as well as hatred from others around who unfairly blame or associate them with the terrorists who were responsible for this day. My point in mentioning Baraheen, Mohammed, Rahma, and Haleema were to clearly show that just like the Christians and the Jews, Muslims were victims of 9/11 – not only that, their pain was just as real and traumatic as anyone else’s would be. Almost to say, hey not only did Muslims suffer on this day, but they’re human too!

The ignorance we all naturally have as humans is something that can be dealt with. It is easy to forget that those around us have real problems and pain because we get so caught up with our own. I wanted to create something to remind anyone who listens to it that not only did ALL types of Americans suffer on 9/11 (and still do), but we have to make a conscious effort to take our “blinders” off and feel for one another on a human level to get somewhere as “one”. The U2 song, in my interpretation preaches love for all and reminds us that in the end we’re all part of the same race, the same world, the same planet. For there to be distinctions among us, especially during times where we need to come together (as we did on 9/11), there will only be hindrance of the process to recovery. None of us come from the same roots and same place but that does not mean we can’t act as if we do. Maybe that’s the point, maybe being “one” is what we’re here for. Here’s my message in the form of lyrics from “One”:

Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
Well we
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt
One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other…

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Eric's ?

3. Recall a very good interview that you watched/read. What made it so good? Now recall a bad one. What made it so bad?

A good interview I have watched is one with Britney Spears believe or not that was conducted by Diane Sawyer. The interview was good mostly because it was extremely interesting and filled with emotion, regardless if you're a Britney fan or not. Whether or not she answered the questions right, there was crying, music to go along with certain parts of the interview, pictures, and references to the background behind her. What also made the interview really interesting in my eyes was the fact she cried...(is that evil?) There is just something that grabs you when a celebrity shows real emotion, reminding you they're actually human..because that was actually filmed within the interview, it made the interview seem more "real" - as if you're actually feeling whats going on in the room, which is the point of media anyway. A really bad interview in the sense of content was the latest interviews with Sarah Palin and Katie Couric. I think Katie could have lead less and just let Sarah talk because what she was saying was so crazy it made the interview really "good" in a "bad" sense. Sarah and Britney's interviews I guess then were both capturing, (neither of them were anywhere near boring)an important difference between the two would be not the content but those who conducted the interview (Diane vs. Katie).

Hampe Questions

1. Hampe writes, "It is precisely when you don't know what is going to happen that preproduction planning is most important." Why?

2. How can telling a story orally show something visually?

3. In your opinion, which do you think is more appealing visually: reenactments of a historical period or actual photos depicting that time>

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Here is the WAM syllabus!

WAM SYLLABUS

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Glenn's ?

Does sound offer a persuasive argument alone or does it need to be associated with another type of media?

I think sound is by far enough all that is needed to make a persuasive argument. The radio and online blogs with sound prove that. Before there was TV, the radio was the main source of media for Americans and their families. Obviously, the radio and just its sound (however various types of sounds were and needed to be used) was enough for many years for world leaders, entertainers, and everyday people to get their points across. I do feel that a more inclusive media, such as the T.V. or internet (if sound and video are present) are medias that are able to make the audience feel more as if they are part of what is being argued. However, sound alone is enough to persuade an audience even if its use as an enhancement works better.

Shipka Questions

1. What is the importance of rhetorical, material, and methodological "soundness" outside of the academic setting?
2. How could providing the "option" of including sound or any other non-conventional method of doing a project affectthe quality/content of the work both positively and negatively?
3. How does the use of rhetroic change it is creation and outcome with sound in comparison with the rhetoric used normal written-compositions (using the two studentsas an example)?

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Secret Service




I took this picture in August when I volunteered for the Obama Campaign when Obama and Biden were in Springfield, IL. If you can look at up the top of the picture, to the left of the dome-looking-thing are two or three men with guns, aka the Secret Service. This is probably the first time I've seen them in action so I was kinda (I know..so nerdy) excited to be able to take a picture of them. What I think is cool about this photo is that a few things really catch your eye at first sight, one: the dome at the very top of the building, two: the American flags and three: the cut off arms heads. This might seem like nothing but to me that is interesting because those three things are not what the point of taking the picture was. I took the picture because of the Secret Service men, yet at first glance they are not what once notices...maybe not at even second or third glance. To me, this really demonstrates that a picture or painting or any media for that
matter can't be understood in one step, what the artist/author/designer is trying to get across most likely will not be very obvious (even if it seems so).